Challenge Monday Mush Mania | Discussion & Index

Here's mine!
Beauty of the Gift

 

FINAL EDIT:

Here it is ...

Imperfect Perfection


And I just realized I think it was supposed to be a lot shorter??

 

The story? No, it can be as long as you want it to be. Only the Spoonfuls of Mush drabbles had the "around 100 words" limit.

 

I was going to post this last night after midnight because I knew today was going to be crazy (thank God for coffee!) but I ended up getting sick. Thankfully I found 5 minutes before I have to run out the door.

The Best Gifts is up in NSWFF. It is TWW, but no knowledge of the show is needed to read it because it is (mostly) OCs 50 years post-show. It really has no plot anyway so I don't think you really need to know the characters. Also, the title sucks because I realized I had to title for it, and came up with one 3 minutes ago.

 

I couldn't think what to call mine so I left the title as just '[MMM]' and I forgot to change it when I thought of a title and now I can't change it.

Anyways, here it is: Jailhouse Schemes

Also, I forgot it was today and it's now 10:50pm here so I nearly missed it!

 

The mods will change it for you once, no worries. Just ask them and supply them the direct link (no formatting) and the new title.

 

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in the MMM challenge. We had a total of eight entries, five Star Wars and three NSWFF. I've updated the index with all of them. Thanks for the fantastic response to this first challenge and making this such a success!

 

Good morning and happy Monday! It’s time for our second challenge; the idea was submitted by @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

MMM Challenge #2:
Write a story about a character or characters adjusting to something new.
This can be anything you like: a new stage in their relationship, a new baby, new sibling, new home, etc.
​

As far as the due date goes, 10 weeks would put it at December 3rd. Would you prefer to have is shorter writing period of 8 weeks so that it doesn’t run into holiday plans? Eight weeks would be November 19th, which is the Monday before Thanksgiving. Let me know what you prefer and we’ll go with whatever works best for most people.

Also, we have our next set of Spoonful of Mush prompts, courtesy of @Findswoman :

1. Breathe
2. Sigh
3. Gasp
4. Pant
5. Exhale

If anyone has ideas for prompts, challenges or discussion, feel free to PM me (and you can always start new discussions here).

 

Yay for another challenge! *starts pondering*

Hmmm... I usually say that the slightly shorter time means I'm less likely to forget, but I also I always like having a bit of extra writing time around a holiday. (Or at least writing in a different location as we usually go to my sister's.) Also, 8 weeks puts it due smack in the middle of NaNo. I don't know how many people this might affect, I'm just putting it out there. So I think I'm leaning toward 10 weeks this time around.

 

*giggles at the drabble prompts*

 

Ohhh! So many opportunities. My muse is on the angst train lately (or at least it wants to be), but I think I may be able to make my idea work.

As for the due date, I agree with Mav. Normally - for me at least - 8 weeks is plenty of time. If I don't have an idea by week 6, I'm not going to get anything. But people might want more time if they are doing Nano (just those like 3 days in December to edit) or for the American holidays. Speaking of which, people may also draw inspiration by the holidays (meaning me but other people might also feel this way). I know the prompt doesn't call for it, but I do l love writing some pure holiday goo, but I'm don't like posting it before December.

 

In any other situation I would say that 8 weeks is long enough, but since with this last challenge I only even worked out the plot at week 9, I'm not sure I want it shorter But I'm fine with whatever is picked........ I'll just have to start thinking about a month earlier than I did last time

 

I think I have too many ideas for this new challenge. I have two new characters that I want to write more off too. I might have to put some bunnies up for adoption before they eat my brains like so many delicious dandelions.

As for the date, I'm tempted to say "do it on the 19th!" because that's my birthday and waking up to lots of mush would be a good present. That said, I can see me forgetting to post it because of NaNoWriMo. Either way, I'll still try and get it written before November. So, November is good by me and if that's what everyone else wants then I'll go with that.

 

I am so chuffed to read that the latest challenge has sparked potential fics! 8 weeks is fine with me.
A couple of discussion questions that I don't think have been addressed:
1. What facets of mush come easiest versus hardest? This could be: "Couple mush is easy"; "Parent-child is hard." Or along the lines of: "Dialogue-driven mush is hard" or "Introspective mush is hard."
2. Are OCs or Ecs more challenging to write mush for, or is it about the same?

 

To answer @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha 's questions
1. I think introspective mush is probably the hardest for me to write, because I tend to write dialogue first and then "fill in" around it. If a scene is heavy on introspection, it can be difficult for me, because I struggle with feeling that it's going to come off as too cliched, not realistic or not emotional enough. As far as type, well, hmmm... it's definitely been a process for me to feel comfortable writing couple's mush. Writing my first "kissing scene" all sorts of awkward for me.

2. I'd say it's about the same for me. Both types are fun and bring in different aspects of mush writing. Right now, my OC mush with Ronen and Noemi is about snarky teens who are still trying to figure out their feelings for each other, while my EC Kanera mush lets me explore a more mature relationship, and the whole Rebels cast is great for friendship/family mush.

 

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted the official due date for our next challenge yet; I had planned to do it yesterday and then my kid got sick. So, for this time around, I think we're going to stick with the 10 weeks writing period to allow time for those who are participating in NaNoWriMo. Our due date will be Monday, December 3.

As a reminder our challenge is: Write a story about a character or characters adjusting to something new. This can be anything you like: a new stage in their relationship, a new baby, new sibling, new home, etc.

Happy mush writing!

 

1. I think for me, for some reason, angsty mush comes the easiest to me. I think maybe because I do enjoy hurt/comfort stuff a lot (both reading and writing) and with those types of fics, there tends to be a natural storyline (even if it is fairly basic, there is still plot, there is still something to overcome like being injured, an argument, etc, which is great for MMM because you can still have plot to satisfy that part of your brain, but your muse can concentrate on more or the emotions and the mushy goo).

Of course, the inverse for me means that plotless mush is the hardest for me. Don't get me wrong, I love pointless/plotless mush, it is just after I write a gooey scene my brain is like "okay... where you taking this Briannakin? What's the point of this? What's next?". Which can lead to fics just kinda 'stoping' (as compared to ending) because there's not exactly a solid conclusion to be had. Which, again, isn't bad and mush can be so much more than a satisfying ending, but people know, I'm a sucker for a good ending (wow. that was a long answer!).

As a person with siblings I'd say sibling mush is the hardest relationship to "mushify" . And I'm being totally serious. Of course every relationship is different and every sibling relationship is different. But in my experience, unless one (or more) of the sibling is at the "cute baby" stage, it is really hard to have explicit sibling mush. As kids 95% of the time you want to murder each other (for various, often stupid reasons), or kill someone that hurt your sibling (so you could have some "protective mush"), and as adults, it just kinda turns into adult-friendship mush with inside jokes (and the desire to murder lowers to about 50%). I think sibling mush can be done, it just has to be a lot more subtle, which is hard (which might make for a great personal challenge (and gives me some ideas for my own MMM fic. Hmm.)

2. I think it is all up to what the muse wants. For a number of years all it wanted was ECs, but now it has transitioned more to OCs. I wouldn't say one is more challenging than the other, but I would say go with whatever the muse wants.


For this prompt, I had several ideas, but one is really sticking to me. It is a bit of a looser interpretation, and a bit angsty, but it's some father/son mush, which I am always a HUGE sucker for.

 

Hm, that's funny, I have 5 younger siblings and I find sibling mush to be almost the easiest to write, only behind parent/child. Maybe the fact that I'm the oldest and almost all the fighting/arguments/wanting to murder each other happens mostly between my younger siblings changes things? Who knows

 

Hello everyone.
Before I answer the questions, I have a question of my own. I haven't been around fanfic in years so I stumbled over "EC". What does EC mean? Just asking this question actually makes me feel super old, to be honest.

I love writing all sorts of mush but the most difficult for me is "parent-child". Although I'm a mom, I could only write it from a parents' point of view, not from the childs' because I find it extraordinarily difficult to get into a child's head. Couple mush is definitely my favorite. Light banter, humor and dialogue that fits the mood plus a little bit of angst - perfect.

 

@Ceillean HELLO BACK! EC stands for established character to differentiate from the plethora of wonderfully detailed OCs.